Warriors ride their Just get through' mantra to another ugly victory

The seconds quietly ticked off the Golden 1 Center jumbotron as the Warriors put the finishing touches on a 119-104 win over the Sacramento Kings.

And just getting this one in the rear-view mirror was as big of an achievement as the win itself.

Midway through their march toward another Larry O’Brien Trophy, “Just getting through” has become a regular calling card for this team.

Golden State was marred by 25 turnovers and overall sloppy play throughout Friday’s victory. The team routinely saw itself out of position as the Kings, the league’s third-worst team, were within striking distance of the world champs till the end.

Over a six-minute stretch in the first quarter, the Warriors gave up open layups to Kings center Willie Cauley-Stein. The first came after the team surrendered an open layup to Zach Randolph. Little more than three minutes later, Warriors forward Draymond Green collapsed to defend a drive from Kings guard Bogdan Bogdanovic, giving up the Cauley-Stein. Both plays drew the ire of Steve Kerr, who called timeouts on both occasions.

“No spirit, no energy and no joy,” Kerr said. “Second half I did not do a good job of rotating and finding the right groups to work together. I felt like we got off kilter in the last four minutes of the fourth quarter.”

While the team sports the best record in the league, Golden State has experienced its share of uninspiring performances this season.

Two nights ago, the team surrendered a 58.2 percent shooting night to the Utah Jazz, as guards Donovon Mitchell and Ricky Rubio combined to score 43 points, marking the Warriors’ worst loss of the season.

Two weeks before that, the team surrendered 50 points to Clippers’ journeyman Lou Williams, as the then 19-21 Clippers outscored Golden State 28-16 in the fourth quarter on the way to a 125-106 win.

Turnovers and sloppy play aside, the Warriors bench is at the bottom half in points scored (19th), and three-point shooting percentage (30th). While the team hasn’t fared higher than 14th in bench scoring during the Kerr era, this year’s rendition of the unit features proven contributors like guard Nick Young and forward Omri Casspi, two players signed to provide a spark.

“We depend so much on the first unit, they do a lot,” Young said. “So when we come in we just got to cater to them, we just got to play our game and bring energy and stick with it.”